At the Microsoft Education Event this past week, there were many announcements that we covered in the Universal Windows Podcast Episode 66. While most of the show was dedicated to the Education sector and Windows 10s, there were two announcements that I was particularly excited intrigued about. Specifically the new Surface laptop and Windows Autopilot.

When I try the Surface Laptop later this month I will check out the lapability but from the specs, there are definitely a couple of missing features that would fit my use cases. I’d really like to see a full USB-C port and built in LTE. From a USB-C perspective, I have run into issues with USB resources with my Surface Pro 3 and I think USB-C is the future. As the Surface Laptop is a premium device, for me to justify the price tag, I’d like to feel like the device has a long useful life ahead whether I keep it myself, hand it down to a family member or sell it. USB-C gives it a longer useful life in my opinion.

As far as LTE, I firmly believe the future is BYON (Bring Your Own Network). We won’t need to be hunting for free WiFi at Starbucks or airports and other locations with unknown risks and tethering while useful can be inconvenient and drain your mobile’s battery. There rumours that an LTE version might be out in the fall.

The most exciting reveal for me was Windows Autopilot. It appears to be a simple to use, Windows 10 mass deployment tool built for the classroom scenario. As I do a lot of work with SCCM, the de facto Enterprise class Operating System deployment tool, I am curious to see how this stacks up. I will do a side-by-side comparison once more details of Autopilot are available. Stay tuned.

[…] previously mentioned that I was excited to compare Windows Autopilot with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). Well, we finally have more details about Windows Autopilot and I’m finally able to give you […]